Good class for inquisitor? (3.5)

[Adamaro]

What class (no PrC, it's a lvl 3 PC), would you reccomend for a role of inquisitor? A religious detective, with strong intimidate, diplomacy and sense motive skills? I need someone who can see in characters of others and at a same time cast fear into them. Maybe even someone who's power of persuasion is usefull even in combat.

[bosssmiley]

Bard in Solomon Kane clothing. Refluff his music as fire-and-brimstone sermonising. Stick to the Divination parts of the bard spell list.

Or Rogue in a cassock.

[olentu]

Factotum perhaps.

[Optimystik]

Paladin, so you can take Grey Guard later to remove the stick.

[olelia]

How about the Inquisitor class?

[GolemsVoice]

Paladin, and later move on to the Shadowbane Hunter or Shadowbane Inquisitor from Complete Adventurer, I think. As the names suggest, they're al about sniffing out bad guys and ending them in a slightly less than paladin-y way.

[Starbuck_II]

What class (no PrC, it's a lvl 3 PC), would you reccomend for a role of inquisitor? A religious detective, with strong intimidate, diplomacy and sense motive skills? I need someone who can see in characters of others and at a same time cast fear into them. Maybe even someone who's power of persuasion is usefull even in combat.

Crusader might work. They are useful in combat and get class skills like those.

[Optimystik]

Crusader might work. They are useful in combat and get class skills like those.

Unfortunately, they get neither Sense Motive nor Gather Information, which may hamper his investigation a bit. They'll be great at apprehending the suspect, though.

[Pharaoh's Fist]

What class (no PrC, it's a lvl 3 PC), would you reccomend for a role of inquisitor? A religious detective, with strong intimidate, diplomacy and sense motive skills? I need someone who can see in characters of others and at a same time cast fear into them. Maybe even someone who's power of persuasion is usefull even in combat.

Cloistered Cleric.

[AB]

Prestige Class: Church Inquisitor (Compl. Divine). Yes, it`s a prestige class, but you can get into ist by level 3 if you start as cleric.

[Foryn Gilnith]

Ironically? The Binder. Bind Naberius for in-combat bluff/diplomacy without taking massive penalties. You get Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Sense Motive as class skills; and even Bluff if you need it.

[Pharaoh's Fist]

Prestige Class: Church Inquisitor (Compl. Divine). Yes, it`s a prestige class, but you can get into ist by level 3 if you start as cleric.

I wasn't expecting the Church Inquisition! (Since the OP said no prestige classes, after all, and you apparently know it.

[Optimystik]

Ironically? The Binder. Bind Naberius for in-combat bluff/diplomacy without taking massive penalties. You get Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Sense Motive as class skills; and even Bluff if you need it.

Brilliant. Can't believe I forgot Binder, and it's one of my favorite classes too.

Naberius' sign is easy to hide, and perfect for the concept (deep, gravelly voice.) You can make Gather Information and Knowledge (Local) checks untrained. You can take 10 on diplomacy checks, and make a rushed check as a standard action with no penalty. Disguise Self at will. And in combat, you can cast Command at will (though with a cooldown.)

[Longcat]

Cleric or Cloistered Cleric.

[deuxhero]

I wasn't expecting the Church Inquisition! (Since the OP said no prestige classes, after all, and you apparently know it.

No one expects... yeah, that is one warm joke.

[Grumman]

Urban Ranger gets you Gather Information, Sense Motive and Urban Tracking, and bonuses to identify certain foes. Martial Study (Leading the Attack) gets you Diplomacy as a class skill for all classes, and lets you better lead your unruly mob into battle.

[Optimystik]

Urban Ranger gets you Gather Information, Sense Motive and Urban Tracking, and bonuses to identify certain foes.

Yes, that's another good one I forgot.

An Ardent is also a good choice.

[SurlySeraph]

Urban Ranger with the Favored Enemy Organization variant, taking something like "Heretics from my church" as his favored enemy.

[Person_Man]

You might also want to pick up telepathy/read thoughts/etc. There are a bunch of different ways to get it. Incarnate, Telepath, Wizard, Cleric, etc.

[Kylarra]

I'll second cloistered cleric heading into church inquisitor.

[Veeda Vidlak]

Throw in another vote for cloistered cleric. However, if you don't think its necessary to play a divine class beguiler isn't a bad idea.

[Rixx]

Seriously, the Inquisitor class is exactly what you're looking for: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/extras/advan...est/inquisitor

[Draz74]

I liked the Factotum idea.

Whichever class you choose, there are ways to use Intimidate and Sense Motive in combat regardless. For Sense Motive, you mostly want the Baffling Defense Setting Sun maneuver; it'll cost you a one-level dip in Swordsage, or two feats, or a 3000-gp item and a feat. For Intimidate, Tome of Battle has some minor tricks for that as well, but the main things are the Imperious Command feat (DotU, IIRC) and the Never Outnumbered skill trick.